Improving The Model Of A Passively Q-Switched Microchip Laser Based On Experimental Data

The dimensioning of a passively q-switched solid state laser can be seen as an interplay between gain on the active medium, the losses caused by the saturable absorber and the optical power within the cavity. This is typically represented by a system of coupled ordinary differential equations. Other rate equation models based on population densities and fluence in the laser cavity are also well known. In previous work we presented a first implementation of one such model that exploited the equivalence between rate equations based on versus a similar model and some preliminary laboratory results for the Q-Switched Microchip Laser that we are developing for range finding applications in space. The current work presents our efforts in bridging the gap between numerical simulation predictions and experimental results. By fitting our laboratory results to our rate equations, we endeavor to obtain the cavity specification values that better represent the physical behavior of our prototype.